How to look great at this summer's festivals

Going for a song

A Thai pop star is opening Bangkok's most stylish new hotel this summer.

On the bank of the Chao Praya River, The Siam is set to open this June. It feels more like a country retreat than an urban hotel, with its large airy rooms - some in antique teakwood houses - and the only pool villas in the city.

The owner is pop star 'Noi' - real name Krissada Sukosol Clapp - who employed architect Bill Bensley to design the hotel's Art Deco-Thai-fusion interior. Each of the 39 rooms is unique, furnished with the Sukosol Clapp family's collection of antiques and artworks. 'I've been collecting for more than 20 years now,' says Noi, lead singer of pop band Pru - one-time winner of the MTV Asia Awards for Favourite Band. 'The antiques cost anywhere between a hundred baht and almost a million - the cheaper items belong to me while the expensive ones belong to my mother!' Guests dine on Thai food in the hotel restaurant, which is made up of three traditional teakwood houses. The houses were built in 1960 by Jim Thompson for socialite Connie Mangskau, whose parties were legendary in the city in the 1960s, with guests including Jackie Kennedy and Roger Moore. After Mangskau's death in 1990, the houses were sold to the Sukosol Clapps, who reassembled them within the grounds of The Siam. As well as an outdoor yoga terrace and bath house with steam and sauna rooms - essential after a day out in the heat of Bangkok - The Siam's leisure facilities include a Muay Thai boxing training centre. There's a speedboat to ferry guests up and down the Chao Praya River, and a private barge for more leisurely tours.

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The Siam is in the Dusit district; nearby sights include the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, the Grand Palace, Pak Khlong Flower Market, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha and Jim Thompson's House.